Data Source: California State Historical Landmarks in Los Angeles County. The words in the description below are directly from that page, reproduced under their Copyright - Private Users Restricted Rights for non-commercial use, but the links have been added by us.
The landmarks are listed in order of date.
# Comments Name Date Quadrangle Location
556 Approximately one-half mile south of the point was the adobe headquarters of Rancho San Francisco, originally built about 1804 as a granary of Mission San Fernando. The rancho was granted to Antonio de Valle in 1839. Here, in January 1850, William Lewis Manly and John Rogers obtained supplies and animals to rescue their comrades in a California-bound gold-seeking emigrant party that was stranded and starving in Death Valley, some 250 miles to the northeast. Rancho San Francisco 1804 Newhall SW corner of 'The Old Road' and Henry Mayo Drive, 0.2 mi S of I-5 and State Hwy 126 interchange, Valencia
168 Francisco López made California's first authenticated gold discovery on March 9, 1842. While gathering wild onions near an oak tree in Placerita Canyon he found gold particles clinging to the roots of the bulbs. The San Fernando placers and nearby San Feliciano Canyon were worked by Sonoran miners using panning, sluicing and dry washing methods. Lopez's find predated James Marshall strike at Sutter's Mill by six years. Oak of the Golden Dream 1842 San Fernando Placerita Canyon State and County Park, Placerita Canyon Rd, 4.6 mi NE of Newhall (Los Angeles) Plaque: SE corner I-5 and Lyons Ave, Newhall
577 In June 1851, 500 Mormon pioneers came through this pass to enter the San Bernardino Valley, where they established a prosperous community. California State Historical Landmarks in San Bernardino County Mormon Trail Monument 1851 Telegraph Peak W Cajon Canyon, State Hwy 138 (P.M. 10. 7), 3.6 mi W of I-15, 20 mi N of San Bernardino
688 This site was the location of a combination store, post office, telegraph office, tavern, and stage depot accommodating travelers during the Kern River gold rush in the early 1850s. A regular stop for Butterfield and other early California stage lines, it was purchased by Sanford and Cyrus Lyons in 1855, and by 1868 at least twenty families lived here. Eternal Valley Memorial Park has called their final resting place 'The Garden of the Pioneers.' Lyons Station Stagecoach Stop 1855 Newhall Eternal Valley Memorial Park, 23287 N Sierra Hwy, near State Hwy 14 and San Fernando Rd, Newhall
1006 Beale's Cut is the only physical and cultural feature of its kind in the entire Los Angeles Basin. At the time of its construction in 1862, the actual creation and maintenance of the Cut was considered a significant technological and physical feat consisting of breaching the former impassable geographic barrier of the San Gabriel and Santa Susana Mountain ranges. General Edward F. Beale is attributed with the construction of a toll road across the mountains. Beale's Cut was also used as a favorite film-making location by pioneer film maker, David Wark Griffith, and others. Beale's Cut Stagecoach Pass 1862 Oat Mountain Intersection of Sierra Hwy and Clampitt Rd, Santa Clarita
172 In 1875 the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of the Standard Oil Company of California, drilled its first Pico Canyon well, which yielded about one hundred barrels per day. The discovery resulted in the erection of the first commercial oil refinery in California the following year. Pioneer Oil Refinery 1875 Newhall Site and private plaque at 238 Pine St, Newhall - state plaque at Lang Blvd exit of I-5
516 On this site stands CSO-4 (Pico No. 4), California's first commercially productive well. It was spudded in early 1876 under direction of Demetrious G. Scofield who later became the first president of Standard Oil Company of California, and was completed at a depth of 300 feet on September 26, 1876, for an initial flow of 30 barrels of oil a day. Later that year, after the well was deepened to 600 feet with what was perhaps the first steam rig employed in oil well drilling in California, it produced at a rate of 150 barrels a day - it is still producing after 77 years (1953). The success of this well prompted formation of the Pacific Coast Oil Company, a predecessor of Standard Oil Company of California, and led to the construction of the state's first refinery nearby. It was not only the discovery well of the Newhall Field, but was a powerful stimulus to the subsequent development of the California petroleum industry. Well, CSO 4 (Pico 4) 1876 San Fernando On W Pico Canyon Rd, 3.3 mi W of I-5, Newhall
516-2 Named after pioneer oil developer Charles Alexander Mentry, who in 1876 drilled the first successful oil well in California. His restored home and barn and Felton School remain here where the Star Oil Company, one of the predecessors of Standard Oil of California, was born. Mentryville 1876 Newhall 27201 W Pico Canyon Rd, 2.8 mi W of I-5, Newhall
590 On September 5, 1876, Charles Crocker, President of the Southern Pacific Company, drove a gold spike here to complete his company's San Joaquin Valley line, the first rail connection of Los Angeles with San Francisco and transcontinental lines. Lang 1876 Mint Canyon Soledad Canyon, Lang Station Rd, 0.4 mi S of State Hwy 14 (P.M. 35.6), Shadow Pines Blvd, 4. 7 mi E of Canyon Country
514 The first hydroelectric installation in California for long-distance transmission of alternating current at high voltage was built in 1892 on San Antonio Creek below this spot by the San Antonio Light and Power Company organized by Dr. Cyrus Grandison Baldwin, President of Pomona College. The first high-voltage transformers built by George Westinghouse for this installation provided for transmission of 10,000 volts from the plant to Pomona. Pomona Water Powerplant 1892 Mt.Baldy Camp Baldy Rd (P.M. 2.0), San Antonio Canyon, 8.1 mi N of State Hwy 166, Claremont
717 The first national forest in the State of California and second in the United States, Angeles National Forest was created by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison on December 20, 1892. The first name given to the forest, 'San Gabriel Timberland Reserve,' was changed to 'San Gabriel National Forest' March 4, 1907 and then to 'Angeles National Forest' on July 1, 1908. The Angeles National Forest 1892 Condor Peak San Gabriel Mtns, Clear Creek vista point, State Hwy 2 (P.M. 32.8), 8.3 mi N of I-210, La Canada
632 This is California's first ranger station, built in 1900 by Louie Newcomb and Phillip Begue, early Forest Service men. The cabin took its name from the 'Short Cut Canyon Trail,' as the cabin was one of the main stopping points on this trail. Old Short Cut 1900 Mt. Wilson Angeles National Forest, Chilao Visitor's Center, Angeles Crest Hwy (State Hwy 2), 27 mi E of La Canada
653 This is the terminus of the Los Angeles-Owens River Aqueduct, which brings water 338 miles from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada to the City of Los Angeles. Begun in 1905, the great aqueduct was completed November 5, 1913. The Mono Craters Tunnel project, completed in 1940, extended the system 27 miles to its present northernmost intake near Tioga Pass. The Cascades 1913 Mint Canyon 0.1 mi N of intersection of Foothill Blvd and Balboa Blvd, 4 mi NW of San Fernando
919 The 185-foot concrete St. Francis Dam, part of the Los Angeles aqueduct system, stood a mile and a half north of this spot. On March 12, 1928, just before midnight, it collapsed and sent over twelve billion gallons of water roaring down the valley of the Santa Clara River. Over 450 lives were lost in this, one of California's greatest disasters. St. Francis Dam Disaster Site 1928 Warm Springs Mtn. San Francisquito Power Plant No. 2, 32300 N San Francisquito Canyon Rd, 9.2 mi N of Saugus
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Updated 2 January 2000.
